Russian experts are discussing ways of funding a public TV service, Mikhail Fedotov, chairman of the presidential council on the civil society, said on Thursday.
The project is being driven by President Dmitry Medvedev, who in 2011 called for the creation of an independent public broadcast service free from ads.
Speaking at the "Petersburg Forum" in July, Medvedev noted that the broadcaster might cause certain problems if it's created and operated on money from Russia's tax payers.
“At our last meeting we discussed ways of funding public TV. Our proposals focused on the possibility to introduce a draft according to which charitable donations to the pubic TV service would be subtracted from taxes,” Fedotov said at roundtable with media experts.
However, the Finance Minister, the State Duma and the Federation Council are unlikely to approve this idea, he said.
Earlier experts proposed that The TV channel may be license-fee funded, but Medvedev declined the proposal. He said that funding from the budget is also not a good idea.
